I have been working on something original or at the very least interesting to say about Martin Luther King in honor of his day of recognition and so far I haven’t been able to come up with anything. What can I possibly say that hasn’t been said a hundred times by persons far more erudite than I? What struck me in my quest for cogent commentary was the glaring lack of up and comers.
Granted we have a year old President that could be considered but his forte is the political while Kings was social. Am I so far out of the loop I don’t see the new revolutionaries? I wonder if at the peak of their contributions did the public realize the legacy the men like Robert Kennedy and Martin King and even Abbie Hoffman were making? I am sure they were recognized for their controversial views but did we know then what we know now that their shoes have virtually remained unfilled? Who is the new Gandhi?
One of the many trivial games I play in my head are recasting new stars into the stars that have fallen before, i.e. George Clooney is the new Cary Grant, Kate Winslet the new Bette Davis, Tom Hanks the new Jimmy Stewart, of our time. I find it virtually impossible to do the same with our social leaders. I am sure this is my flaw and not the world at large but I find it a little disturbing. Twenty years from now who will be on rebellious teenagers t-shirts, surely not still Che Guevara? And can we ultimately blame the media for this gap?
While there are many, many wonderful aspects to the world wide information exchange one of the price tags is those that can stand up to that much investigation appear to be few and far between. Is this one of the reasons for a gap in our leaders? I know, aside from the obvious lack of talent, I couldn’t stand up to public scrutiny nor would I really want to. I am harsh enough on myself for past transgressions without the clerk at the local mini mart having the opportunity to weigh in on my shortcomings as well. I do appreciate the investigative efforts of the people checking in on our leaders but if the same in-depth look at leaders gone before had occurred, would we have the same opinion of FDR?
So this MLK Day pause for a moment and appreciate the man not only for his accomplishments but for existing at all. And while you are at it, give a nod to some of the other great leaders we have known who tried to do good things for the benefit of the public. It is a thankless and typically unappreciated job. Then help me think of who the new kids on the block are going to be!